Help Your Kids Go Green and Stay Safe with Green Toys

The U.S. toy industry generates over $22 billion per year in sales, though every holiday we hear about recalls for dolls laced with lead paint or toxic packaging that is making our children sick. These risks can be avoided while making the eco-friendly choice of giving your kids green toys. The eco-friendly toy industry is currently outperforming standard toy sales by 150%; this shows that Americans are making the sustainable choice for their children. There are lots of terms being used to describe green toys and many companies that produce the eco-friendly products; here we will help you wade through it all to make the right choice for your children.

Understanding What Makes a Green Toy

In our previous article about green products, we discussed how there wasn’t a single standard that labeled a product green, since green toys are a green product this also applies. However, there are some basics that you should look for when trying to pick out that perfect eco-friendly toy. Some of the most common green toys are made from common recycled materials. This includes companies like Green Toys, they use recycled milk jugs to create fun, safe and colorful pre-school toys. For every pound of recycled milk jugs these toy companies use, enough electricity is saved to power a television for 3 weeks. Bamboo is also a great material to use for toys, it is a sustainable plant that does not require much water or care and can re-grow in just 3 short years. Similarly, rubberwood toys utilize leftover wood from these trees that would otherwise have been burned when matured; this is because they stop producing latex when fully grown. Lastly, all green toys should come in eco-friendly packaging, like recycled cardboard without plastics and foam; this packaging should be easily recycled.

Toxic toys can seriously hurt the ones we are trying to protect. For example lead has been proven to negatively impact developmental and neurological systems. Additionally, phthalates can cause birth defects as well as damage the testes and liver – these are commonly found in those rubber bath toys. Our children deserve better than toxic and lead based toys, so make the right choice and give them the eco-friendly solution. With research showing that more than one third of parents are looking for green toys, going green will get easier for families across the country.